Note 1357 — PERSIUS.
Lewis Evans translation
Virtutem videant. This passage is beautifully paraphrased by Wyat.
"None other payne pray I for them to be, But, when the rage doth lead them from the right, That, looking backward, Vertue they may see E'en as she is, so goodly faire and bright! And while they claspe their lustes in arms acrosse, Graunt them, good Lord, as thou maist of thy might, To fret inwarde for losing such a losse!" Ep. to Poynes.
"Virtue," says Plato, "is so beautiful, that if men could but be blessed with a vision of its loveliness, they would fall down and worship." ὄψις γάρ ὑμῖν ὀξυτάτη τῶν διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔρχεται αἰσθήσεων, ᾗ φρόνησις οὐχ ὁρᾶται δεινοὺς γάρ ἂν παρεῖχεν ἔρωτας εἴ τι τοιρῦτον ἑαυτῆς ἐναργὲς εἴδωλον παρείχετο εἰς ὄψιν ἰόν καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα ἐραστά. Phædr., c. 65, fin. The sentiment has been frequently repeated. Cic., de Fin., ii., 16, "Quam illa ardentes amores excitaret sui si videretur." De Off., i., 5, "Si oculis cerneretur mirabiles amores, ut ait Plato, excitaret sui." Senec., Epist. 59, 1, "Profecto omnes mortales in admirationem sui raperet, relictis his quæ nunc magna, magnorum ignorantia credimus." So Epist. 115. Shaftesbury's Characteristics. The Moralists. Part iii., § 2.